A two-day strike by ground crew and security staff began Thursday at Munich airport, Germany’s second largest, cancelling hundreds of flights.

Only 100 of 830 scheduled takeoffs and landings would go ahead as planned Thursday, an airport spokesman told AFP.

The workers represented by the Verdi union plan to continue the strike until midnight on Friday.

Verdi is demanding an eight percent pay rise for workers or at least 350 euros more per month, as well as higher bonuses for particularly stressful jobs and more days off.

The union said ground and security staff made “an indispensable contribution to the safety and reliability of air traffic — around the clock, in all weather conditions”.

The increasing intensity of the work and ongoing staff shortages were a “considerable burden” on employees, it said.

The next round of talks with employers is scheduled for March 14.

The strike at Germany’s second-largest airport after Frankfurt comes at a busy time for travel, just ahead of the carnival season in the southern region of Bavaria.

Workers have also been on strike at Hamburg airport since Thursday night.

However, with the exception of cancelled flights to Munich, Hamburg airport was able to “maintain flight operations as normal”, an airport spokeswoman said.

Workers also went on strike at Cologne/Bonn and Duesseldorf airports on Monday.